Des Moines, Iowa's Michael Annett is in his 11th season competing at the NASCAR national level. His path to America's favorite form of auto racing ironically began in another sport.

Hockey - not racing - was Annett's first love. As a child, he had a natural talent for ice hockey and quickly advanced through the ranks. Annett caught the eye of regional and national scouts and joined a tier one AAA team, Team Illinois, at the age of 16 and led them to the 2002 Calgary Mac's AAA Hockey Tournament Championship.

After a successful season with Team Illinois as the league's leader in penalty minutes, Annett joined the Waterloo (Iowa) Black Hawks in the United States Hockey League (USHL) and earned honors as the 2004 USHL Most Improved Player. The Hawkeye native remained with the team for two seasons and earned a Clark Cup Championship. At the conclusion of the 2005 season, Annett opted to trade in his hockey skates for a steering wheel.

While time on the rink was a natural fit for Annett, so was life in the fast lane. He was born into a family with a rich heritage in auto racing and attended his first race, the famed Knoxville Nationals, just days after his birth. For several years, the Annett family served as owner and primary sponsor for World of Outlaws legend Sammy Swindell.

Annett enjoyed instant success in the ARCA Series. His series debut came at Iowa Speedway where the hometown favorite impressed the Hawkeye crowd by winning the pole and scoring a third-place finish. The young driver padded his resume with a pair of third-place qualifying efforts and top-10 finishes while making track debuts at Nashville Superspeedway and Gateway International Raceway.

Later that season, in his first race on the largest track on the ARCA tour, the famed Talladega Superspeedway, Annett was victorious. Driving an entry for Bill Davis Racing, he led 75 of 94 laps en route to his first career Stock Car victory.

During the offseason prior to 2008, Annett left his familiar surroundings in Iowa and moved to North Carolina after inking an agreement with Bill Davis Racing to participate in the ARCA superspeedway events, a select number of races in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series and in a rigorous testing program. The decision paid immediate dividends.

In the season-opening ARCA race at Daytona International Speedway, Annett led the final 32 laps, scoring his first win at the World Center of Racing. In four completed ARCA races that season, he averaged a finish of 4.75. In his initial NASCAR Camping World Truck Series starts, he finished sixth at The Milwaukee Mile, 11th at Memphis Motorsports Park and second at Kentucky Speedway.

Annett moved to Germain Racing for the 2009 and 2010 NASCAR Xfinity Series seasons. In his rookie season in America's second most popular racing series, Annett earned four top-10 finishes and finished 10th in the final point standings. The following season, his average finish improved by one position.

For the 2011 season, Annett joined forces with Rusty Wallace Racing to drive the organization's No. 62 entry. Contending in his third full season in NASCAR's Xfinity Series, Annett finished the season ninth in championship points with seven top-10 finishes and an average finish of 16.4.

The best season of Annett's career came in 2012 while driving the iconic No. 43 for Richard Petty Motorsports. He scored six top-5 finishes, 17 top-10 finishes and averaged an 11.2-place finish position. The highlights of his season included third-place finishes at Daytona and Dover International Speedway. Following a second season at RPM, Annett jumped to the next level.

Annett's rookie season in the NASCAR Cup Series came in 2014, driving the No. 7 Chevrolet for Tommy Baldwin Racing. He acquitted himself well in the rough-and-tumble racing division, finishing fourth in the Rookie of the Year standings.

He moved to HScott Motorsports for the 2015 and 2016 Cup Series seasons. He earned a career-best 13th-place finish in the 2014 Daytona 500.

Annett's return to Xfinity Series competition in 2017 with JR Motorsports yielded seven top-10 finishes, including a second-place finish at Road America, and a ninth-place finish in the yearlong point standings.